The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
81°F
Current Conditions
Clear sky
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Human composting to be legal in Washington

Katrina Spade, the founder and CEO of Recompose, a company that hopes to use composting as an alternative to burying or cremating human remains, on April 19, 2019, in a cemetery in Seattle, as she displays a sample of compost material left from the decomposition of a cow using a combination of wood chips, alfalfa and straw. On Tuesday, May 21, 2019, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill into law that allows licensed facilities to offer “natural organic reduction,” which turns a body, mixed with substances such as wood chips and straw, into soil in a span of several weeks. Th law makes Washington the first state in the U.S. to approve composting as an alternative to burying or cremating human remains. (Elaine Thompson / AP)
Katrina Spade, the founder and CEO of Recompose, a company that hopes to use composting as an alternative to burying or cremating human remains, on April 19, 2019, in a cemetery in Seattle, as she displays a sample of compost material left from the decomposition of a cow using a combination of wood chips, alfalfa and straw. On Tuesday, May 21, 2019, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill into law that allows licensed facilities to offer “natural organic reduction,” which turns a body, mixed with substances such as wood chips and straw, into soil in a span of several weeks. Th law makes Washington the first state in the U.S. to approve composting as an alternative to burying or cremating human remains. (Elaine Thompson / AP)
By Jim Camden jimc@spokesman.com(509) 879-7461

OLYMPIA – In just under a year, Washington residents will have choices other than burial and cremation after they die, including becoming human compost.

Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill expected to make Washington the first state to allow human composting – also known as natural organic reduction – available to those who choose it as the final disposition of their remains. It will have to be performed by a licensed facility, and rules regarding the scattering of those remains will have to be followed.

The new law also will allow for alkaline hydrolysis, which reduces a body through heat, pressure, water and certain chemicals, a process that’s legal in 19 other states.

Both processes are cheaper, more environmentally friendly and less energy intensive than cremation, supporters said.

Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, the prime sponsor of the bill, said that while death is a universal human experience, the two methods for disposing of human remains covered by state law – burying a body or burning a body – have been with society for thousands of years.

Human composting involves covering a body with organic materials, usually straw or wood chips, which allows it to break down over a few weeks into about a cubic yard of soil indistinguishable from other compost. The composted remains could be taken by family members or scattered on designated conservation land. Recompose, a Seattle-based business that plans to offer the service, conducted a pilot program last year with five donor bodies at Washington State University.

Human composting and alkaline hydrolysis will be legal in Washington starting May 1, 2020.